On Jan. 27, rehearsals began for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with a script read-through, which was shortly follwed by the announcement of casting for Kingsley Shacklebolt and Young James Potter. Goblet was nominated for an Oscar to round out the first month of 2006.

February
February got off to a big bang with major casting announcements for Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch), Tonks (Natalia Tena), Bellatrix (then Helen McCrory) and confirmation of the much-rumored Imelda Staunton as Umbridge. We got our first glimpse at Evanna Lynch, and WB also confirmed that production would begin Feb. 6. Later we learned that Trelawney was in, Mundungus was out of the fifth film, right before the first photos of Hagrid’s hut surfaced.

Evanna Lynch gave her first interview since being cast as Luna Lovegood, calling Luna a “breath of fresh air.” Dan Radcliffe and David Yates appeared briefly in a Comic-Con video, discussing OotP. Lastly, the Potter merchandise license was transferred to NECA.

AugustAugust began as WB issued a release officially announcing Helena Bonham Carter and Nicholas Hooper as Bellatrix and the new composer, respectively. The next day we got a Order of the Phoenix filming report, which was quickly followed by the first news that the Half-Blood Prince film release date had been set for November 2008 (and later confirmed for Nov. 21 of that year). We got our first look at Dudley in the Order of the Phoenix film, a look at Young Snapefrom the Pensieve scene and the first shot of Tonks.

The once-promised announcement of a director of Half-Blood Prince by Christmas has not occurred, and we enter 2007 with the fifth movie fast approaching, most of the stars signed for the sixth film, and, unsurprisingly, directors starting to drop hints about their willingness to devote themselves to what we now know as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.